GB virus C Viremia and Anti-E2 Antibody Response Among Hemodialysis Patients in Gorgan, Iran

Background: gb virus c is a blood-borne virus and a member of flaviviridae, like hepatitis c that is distributed globally and puts hemodialysis patients at high risk of developing liver disease. the clinical significance of gbv-c in this population remains unclear.objectives: the current study aimed to evaluate gbv-c infection among hemodialysis patients.patients and methods: totally, 149 patients receiving hemodialysis were included in the study. the detection of gbv-c sequences in plasma was done by the nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) using specific primers selected from highly conserved regions of 5' utr of gbv-c and antibodies to the envelope protein of gbv-c (anti-e2 gbv-c antibody) were analyzed by also serological methods. in addition, hepatitis b surface antigen (hbsag), hepatitis b core antibody (hbcab) igm, anti- hepatitis c virus (hcv) and anti- hepatitis e virus (hev) ab was determined in patients who were gbv-c rna and anti-e2 gbv-c antibody positive.results: the total prevalence of gbv-c infection was 14.7% (95%ci: 0.09-0.21) among patients receiving hemodialysis. the rate of gbv-c viremia and anti-e2 antibody positivity were 6.04% and 10.73%, respectively. among the subjects who were positive for gbv-c, 27.27% (95% ci: 0.02-0.09), 45.45% (95% ci: 0.03-0.11), 59.9% (95% ci: 0.06-0.16) and 0% (95% ci: 0.01-0.07) were positive for anti-hcv, anti-hbsag, anti-hbc igm and anti-(hev) ab, respectively. in addition, the rate of both anti-hbc igm /anti-hcv/ hbsag and anti-hbc igm /anti-hcv positivity in gbv-c infected cases were 9.09%. the liver enzymes were normal in all of them. there was significant difference between gbv-c exposures with viral hepatitis co-infection, but there was no correlation between gbv-c exposure with gender, age, ethnicity, time on dialysis and history of blood transfusions. a relatively high frequency of positivity gbv-c-exposure among hemodialysis patients suggested that the transmission route for gbv-c may be nosocomial transmission, and via transfusions.conclusions: the current study found a relatively high frequency of positivity gbv-c-exposure among the patients receiving hemodialysis in the area understudy. nosocomial transmission seems to be the main route of gbv-c infection in the area.